Roller and retainer for a wire basket

ABSTRACT

A SUPPORUT ROLLER ASSEMBLY PRIMARILY FOR ROLLINGLY SUPPORTING A WIRE BASKET, SUCH AS IN A DISHWASHER. THE ROLLER ASSEMBLY INCLUDES AN INVERTED, SUBSTANTIALLY U-SHAPED PLASTICS RETAINER MEMBER ADAPTED TO BE DISPOSED IN EMBRACING RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE OF THE WIRES OF THE BASKET. THE RETAINER MEMBER SUPPORTS THEREON A ROLLER SUPORT SHAFT OR STUD BEING AXIALLY CONNECTED TO THE RETAINER MEMBER BY MEANS OF A RESILIENT SNAP FIT. THE STUD IN TURN ROTATABLY SUPPORTS A PLASTIC ROLLER THEREON, WHICH ROLLER IS RESILIENTLY SNAPPED ONTO THE STUD SO AS TO BE AXIALLY RETAINED RELATIVE TO THE BASKET.

June 1972 WALTER POMPEY ROLLER AND RETAINER FOR A WIRE BASKET 7 FiledAug. 1'7, 1970 INNENTOR BY W417i? POMPB MM 6W yaw AffUP/MV) UnitedStates Patent 01 lice 3,672,743 ROLLER AND RETAINER FOR A WIRE BASKETWalter Pompey, Kalamazoo, Mich., assignor to W-L Molding Company,Portage, Mich. Filed Aug. 17, 1970, Ser. No. 64,163 Int. Cl. A47b 97/00US. Cl. 312--352 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A support rollerassembly primarily for rollingly supporting a wire basket, such as in adishwasher. The roller assembly includes an inverted, substantialyU-shaped plastics retainer member adapted to be disposed in embracingrelationship with one of the wires of the basket. The retainer membersupports thereon a roller support shaft or stud, the stud being axiallyconnected to the retainer member by means of a resilient snap fit. Thestud in turn rotatably supports a plastics roller thereon, which rolleris resiliently snapped onto the stud so as to be axially retainedrelative to the basket.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a roller assemblyhaving improved retainer means for permitting a roller to be operatively and rotatably mounted on a wire basket. It particularlyrelates to such a roller assembly adapted for manufacture entirely fromplastics materials and for use under conditions of water and load, suchas encountered in an automatic dishwasher.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 'While the particular support rollerassembly of the present invention is applicable to a wide variety ofuses, the particular problem given rise to its development existed inthe field of automatic dishwashing equipment and, accordingly, it willbe described and discussed in connection therewith. However, it shouldbe emphasized that this is merely for convenience in illustrating anddescribing the invention inasmuch as the support roller as semblyaccording to the present invention is equally applicable in many otherfields of use.

In the field of mechanical dishwashers, there is commonly provided awire basket for holding the dishes. Such a basket is normally providedwith rollers in order that it may move conveniently from one position toanother, such as from a loading position to a washing position in aresidential dishwasher, or from a washing position to a rinsing positionin a commercial dishwasher. For such purposes it is common to mountrollers under the wire basket but in view of the conditions of use, itis preferred to use plastics rollers rather than metal rollers forreasons already well known to the industry. While the rollers themselveshave been familiar for several years, the mounting of the rollers ontothe basket has presented a problem which has, insofar as I am aware, notbeen adequately solved prior to the present invention. Particularly, inprevious practices the rollers have tended to become loose after acertain amount of use and/or have wobbled during use, such that thepurpose of using the rollers has been materially interferred with.Previous attempts to improve such mountings have resulted in deviceswhich are either unacceptably expensive to manufacture, unacceptablyexpensive to install, or both.

Accordingly, the objects and purposes of the present invention are:

(1) To provide a support roller assembly having an improved mountingdevice for permitting a roller and stud assembly to be permanently andreliably mounted onto a wire basket.

Patented June 27, 1972 (2) To provide a mounting device, as aforesaid,which can be molded from a plastics material.

(3) To provide a mounting device, as aforesaid, which can be installedquickly and easily by unskilled personnel, as by a simple single motion.

(4) To provide a mounting device, as aforesaid, which can be appliedeither manually or by extremely simple equipment.

(5) To provide a mounting device, as aforesaid, which will hold theroller firmly and reliably for the full life of the equipment with whichsame is to be used.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to personsacquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading thefollowing specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an oblique view of afragment of a typical wire basket with which the improved support rollerassembly of the present invention is used, and showing the supportroller assembly mounted on the basket.

FIG. 2 is a central longitudinal sectional view taken on the line II--IIof FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevational view taken on the line IIIIII of FIG.2.

Certain terminology will be used in the following description forconvenience in reference only and will not be limiting. The wordsrightwardly, leftwardly, upwardly and downwardly will refer todirections in the drawings to which reference is made. The wordsinwardly and outwardly will refer to directions toward and away from,respectively, the geometric center of the support roller assembly andassociated parts thereof. The words inwardly and outwardly will alsorefer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the .geometriccenter of the basket having the support roller assemblies mountedthereon. Said terminology will include the words above specificallymentioned, derivatives thereof and words of similar import.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects and purposes of the presentinvention are met by providing a retainer member, preferably constructedof plastics, and having a substantially inverted U-shaped configuration.The retainer is disposed in embracing relationship to one of the wiresof a basket, which wire preferably has a looped portion disposed in theslot defined between the legs of the retainer. The retainer has anopening extending through the legs thereof in which is positioned afirst portion of a support shaft or stud, also adaptable to making fromplastics, which first shaft portion also extends through the wire loopfor interconnecting the loop and the retainer. The retainer has aresilient annular flange which extends into a groove formed adjacent thefree end of the first shaft portion for axially securing same togetherby means of a resilient snap fit. The stud also includes a secondportion which extends outwardly beyond the retainer and has a plasticsroller rotatably supported thereon. The roller preferably has aresilient annular flange formed on the outer axial side thereof, whichflange is received within a second groove formed adjacent the free endof the second shaft portion for axially retaining the roller on the studby means of a resilient snap fit. The stud also includes an annular,radially extending flange or shoulder disposed between the retainer andthe roller.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 illustrates therein a box-like wire basket12, such as for a dishwasher, having a plurality of support rollerassemblies 11 (only one illustrated in FIG. 1)

mounted thereon. The basket 12 particularly includes a lower support rod13 having at least one looped portion 14 adjacent each corner of thebasket for permitting one of the support roller assemblies 11 to bemounted adjacent each corner of the basket. The support rollerassemblies 11 cooperate with any suitable track structure 16 (FIG. 2)for permitting the basket 12 to be moved with respect to a fixedsupporting structure. The basket 12 and the track structure 16 areconventional and may take many different structural forms while stillutilizing the improved support roller assembly 11 therewith. Thus, thebasket and track structure will not be described in detail.

The support roller assembly 11 as illustrated in FIG. 2 includes aretainer member 21 adapted to be fixedly mounted on the wire basket, asupport shaft or stud 22 adapted to be mounted on the retainer 21, and aroller 23 adapted to be rollingly supported on the stud 22.

The retainer 21 substantially comprises a cylindrical body member 26(FIG. 3) having a slot 27 extending inwardly from the arcuate peripheralsurface thereof, which slot is substantially transverse to thelongitudinal axis of the cylindrical body member 26. The slot 27 isprovided with an upper arcuate end wall 28. The slot 27 causes the bodymember 26, when viewed from the side thereof (as illustrated in FIG. 2),to have an inverted, substantially U-shaped configuration. The slot 27results in the formation of substantially parallel, downwardly extendinglegs 31 and 32, which legs have coaxial openings 33 extendingtherethrough. The openings 33 in this embodiment extend in the axialdirection of the cylindrical body member 26 and are laterally oreccentrically offset relative to the central axxis of the body member26, the openings 33 being positioned closely adjacent the lower end ofthe legs 31 and 32. However, it will be recognized that this eccentricpositioning of the openings 33, while advantageous in making possible aminimum length for the legs 31 and 32, may be varied as desired to meetdifferent dimensional requirements or the openings may be madeconcentric with said central axis if preferred.

The retainer 21 is also provided with an annular, resilient lip orflange 34 adjacent one axial end of the cylindrical body member 26,which annular flange 34 is of a generally frusto-conical configurationand extends axially outwardly and radially inwardly relative to theopenings 33. The purpose of the flange 34 will be explained hereinafter.

Considering now the roller 23, same includes an annular web portion 36having a central opening 37 extending therethrough. An annular, axiallyextending rim 38 is fixedly, here integrally, secured to the outercircumferential portion of the web 36. The hub of the annular webportion 36 is provided with an annular abutment shoulder 41 adjacent oneaxial end thereof, whereas the hub of the annular web 36 is providedwith a annular, resilient lip or flange 42 adjacent the other axial endthereof. The flange 42 is similar to flange 34 in that it is of afrustoconical configuration and extends axially outwardly and radiallyinwardly relative to the central annular opening 37. The purpose of theflange 42 will also be described hereinafter.

The retainer 21 and the roller 23 are axially intercom nected by meansof the support shaft or stud 22, which stud 22 includes first and secondcylindrical shaft portions 46 and 47. The shaft portion 46 is rotatablyreceived within the opening 37 for supporting the roller 23, while theshaft portion 47 is received within the openings 33 for enabling theshaft 22 to be supported on the retainer 21. The stud 22 furtherincludes an enlarged annular flange 48 disposed between the shaftportions 46 and 47, which annular flange 48 functions both as an axialshoulder for restraining axial movement of the retainer 21 and roller23, and as a spacer for maintaining the retainer 21 and roller 23slightly axially spaced from one another.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the shaft portion 46 is provided with anannular groove or recess 49 adjacent the free end 4 thereof, whichgroove 49 forms an annular retainer flange 51 on the free end of theshaft portion 46.

The second shaft portion 47 is also provided with an annular groove orrecess 52, which groove 52 is likewise provided adjacent the free end ofthe shaft portion 47 and forms an annular retainer flange 53 on the freeend of the shaft portion 47. The flanges 34 and 42 are each ofsufficient inward radial extent as to overlap the retainer flanges 53and 42. The amount of such overlap is determined by the nature of thematerial used, small enough to permit assembly as described furtherbelow but large enough to prevent, or at least resist, disassembly.

The retainer 21, the stud 22 and the roller 23 are all preferablyconstructed of a nonmetallic material, preferably plastics, especiallywhere their use is to be under conditions of water and load. In onepreferred embodiment of the invention, the retainer 21 and stud 22 areconstructed of nylon, and the roller 23 is constructed of Celcon(trademark). However, it is entirely within the scope of the inventionto make the several parts of the roller and retainer assembly of suchother materials, including rubber, synthetic rubbers or metal, as may berequired by the conditions of use. If the retainer 21 is of metal,especially if both the retainer 21 and the shaft 22 are of metal, theflanges 34 and 42 will be shortened so as to have a pressfitrelationship with the adjacent flanges 53 and 51, respectively. Thus,said flanges will pass each other in assembly under anti-parallel axialpressures, as described further below, but will still perform theirrespective retaining functions.

ASSEMBLY The assembly of the support roller apparatus 11 according tothe present invention, though somewhat suggested above, will bedescribed in detail to ensure a complete understanding thereof.

One preferred sequence of assembly is to preassemble the roller and studat the point of manufacture of same and then to assemble suchpreassembled unit into the basket and retainer at a later point ofoperation, such as at the plant making dishwashers.

In this sequence, the roller 23 is positioned adjacent and in axialalignment with the end of the shaft portion 46, the shoulder 41 beingdisposed closely adjacent the retaining flange 51. The roller 23 is thenmoved axially (rightwardly in FIG. 2) onto the shaft portion 46, whichmovement is permitted by the fact that the shaft portion 46 has adiameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the opening 37 so as topermit the roller 23 to freely rotate relative to the shaft portion 46.The roller 23 will be moved axially onto the shaft portion 46 until theshoulder portion 41 abuts the annular cflange 48.

As the shoulder 41 axially approaches the flange 48, the annularresilient lip 42, which lip will be cammed outwardly by the retainerflange 51, will resiliently snap into the annular groove 49, whereuponthe radial inner edge of the lip 42 will thus be disposed within thegroove and positioned inwardly of the retainer flange 51, therebypreventing the roller 23 from moving axially outwardly (leftwardly inFIG. 2) relative to the stud 22.

To mount such preassembled unit onto the basket, the retainer 21 will bepositioned in embracing relationship on the loop 14 by positioning theretainer 21 so that same is disposed above the loop 14 with the legs 31and 32 being directed downwardly and the resilient flange 34 beingdirected inwardly toward the center of the basket. The retainer 21 willthen be moved downwardly so that the loop 14 extends into the slot 27,the slot 27 having a width substantially equal to the width of the wire14 so that wire 14 will be snugly received within the slot 27. With theloop 14 received within the slot 27, the openings 33 formed in the legs31 and 32 will be substantially aligned with the opening defined by theloop 14.

The stud 22 will then be positioned adjacent to and axially aligned withthe opening 33 formed in the outer leg portion 32 and the stud 22 willthen be pushed axially inwardly (rightwardly in FIG. 2) into theopenings 33 so as to extend across the slot 27, whereupon the shaftportion 47 will extend through the opening defined within the wire loop14. The inward axial movement of the stud 22 is possible by means of arelatively small axial pushing force inasmuch as the shaft portion 47has an external diameter substantially equal to the diameter of theopenings 33. The retainer flange 53, as it is axially pushed toward theresilient flange 34, will cause the resilient flange 34 to deflectradially outwardly until the flange 53 passes axially thereby, whereuponthe resilient flange 34 will snap radially inwardly so as to extend intogroove 52, and thus prevent the stud 22 from being axially withdrawn(leftwardly in FIG. 2) from the retainer 21. The inward pressingmovement of the stud 22 will continue until the annular shoulder 48substantially abuts the outer surface of the leg portion 32, in whichposition the resilient flange 34 will have snapped into the groove 52.The flange 34 and the shoulder 48 thus cooperate to axially retain thestud 22 relative to the retainer 21.

The parts may be dimensioned so that the shaft portion 47 rotatesrelative to the retainer 21, but it is preferred that the shaft portion47 be snugly received within the openings 33 and the roller rotate onthe shaft,

With the support roller assembly 11 mounted on the wire loops 14 in themanner described above, the retainer 21 will resist rocking momentsimposed thereon due to the lateral offset relationship between theroller 23 and the loop 14 inasmuch as a substantial vertically extendingportion of the loop 14 is disposed within the slot 27. At the same time,the retainer 21 will permit downward vertical loads imposed on thebasket 12 to be transferred directly from loop 14 onto the stud 22,which in turn will transfer the load directly to the roller 23. Thus,the downward vertical loads are not directly imposed onto the retainer21. This arrangement thus permits the roller to be supported on thebasket in a rigid and dependable manner so as to enable the rollerassembly to have a long life, while at the same time the roller assemblycan be easily and quickly assembled or mounted on the basket withoutrequiring special tools or equipment, the complete roller assembly beinginterconnected to the basket merely by axially pressing the componentparts together, as above described.

.While the assembly sequence as described above has assured preassemblyof the roller 23 onto the stud 22 before the stud has been mounted ontothe basket, it will be apparent that this sequence could be reversed inthat the roller 23 could be mounted on the stud 22 after mounting of thestud onto the basket.

In this embodiment the wire 14 is primarily held in place with respectto the shaft 47 by being looped therearound and held from endwisedisplacement by the retainer 21. However, it is further conceivable thatsaid wire 14 or other generally elongated member, might be further heldtightly with respect to the retainer 21 by having the legs 31 or 32thereof urged toward each other by compression between the flange 48 andthe retainer 53. This would at least help to hold the wire 14 in placewith respect to the retainer even if it were shaped to include astraight section within hte retainer substantially parallel with thesurface 28 thereof.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has beendisclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognizedthat variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus, includingthe rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the presentinvention.

The embodiments of the invention in which I claim an exclusive propertyor privilege are defined as follows:

1. In combination with a boxlike wire basket having a support wire, asupport roller assembly mounted on said basket for rollingly supportingsame, said support roller assembly comprising:

a retainer member mounted on said support wire in embracing relationshiptherewith;

a stud shaft having one end thereof supported on said retainer member;

a roller supported on said stud shaft adjacent the other end thereof;and

locking means for axially securing said roller, said shaft and saidretainer member relative to one another, said locking means includingcoacting means for creating a resilient snap fit between said shaft andsaid retainer member for preventing relative axial movement therebetweenin at least one direction;

said coacting means including a resilient frusto-conical flangeintegrally connected to said retainer member and disposed in surroundingrelationship to said shaft, said flange extending outwardly toward saidone end of said shaft, said shaft having an annular groove formedtherein adjacent said one end thereof for enabling said flange toresiliently extend therein for preventing axial movement of saidretainer member relative to said shaft only in a direction toward saidone end of said shaft.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said retainer memberhas a slot formed therein so as to provide a pair of leg-likeprojections, said one end of said shaft extending between said pair ofprojections and across the width of said slot, and a portion of saidsupport wire being disposed in the bottom of said slot and beingpositively con-fined between said retainer member and said shaft.

3. The combination according to claim 2, wherein said support wire isprovided with a looped portion disposed within said slot in closelyconfined relationship between said pair of leg-like projections, saidshaft extending through the opening defined by said looped portion forpositively interconnecting said retainer member to said looped portion.

4. The combination according to claim 2, wherein said shaft has a secondannular groove formed therein adjacent the other end thereof, and saidroller having a second resilient frusto-conical flange integraltherewith and directed toward said other end of said shaft, said secondflange resiliently extending into said second groove for preventingaxial movement of said roller relative to said shaft only in an axialdirection toward said other end of said shaft, and said shaft furtherhaving an annular flange integral therewith and disposed intermediatethe length thereof for disposition between and in abutting engagementwith said retainer member and said roller.

5. In combination with a boxlike wire basket having a support wire, asupport roller assembly mounted on said basket for rollingly supportingsame, said support roller assembly comprising:

a U-shaped retainer member mounted on said support wire in embracingrelationship therewith, said retainer member having a pair of legportions defining a slot therebetween, said pair of leg portions havingsubstantially aligned openings extending therethrough in a directionsubstantially transverse to said slot, and a portion of said supportwire being disposed in the bottom of said slot whereby said leg portionsare disposed on opposite lateral sides of said support wire;

a stud shaft having one end thereof supported on said retainer member,said one end of said shaft being disposed within said openings andextending between said pair of leg portions and across the width of saidslot at a location disposed between the bottom of said slot and the freeend of said slot so that said portion of said support wire is positivelyconfined within the bottom of said slot between said retainer member andsaid shaft;

a roller supported on said stud shaft adjacent the other end thereof;

first locking means coacting between said retainer member and said oneend of said shaft for preventing axial movement of said retainer memberrelative to said shaft in a direction toward said one end thereof, saidfirst locking means including a first projection fixedly connected toone of said retainer member and said shaft; and

second locking means coacting between said shaft and said roller forpreventing axial movement of said roller in a direction toward saidother end of said shaft, said second locking means including a secondprojection fixedly connected to one of said roller and said shaft;

one of said first and second locking means causing creation of aresilient snap fit for preventing relative axial movement in thespecified direction, the projection associated with said one lockingmeans being resilient.

6. The combination according to claim 5, wherein the projectionassociated with said first locking means is resilient to create a snapfit between said retainer member and said shaft, and wherein theprojection associated with said second locking means is also resilientto create a snap fit between said roller and said shaft.

7. The combination according to claim 5, wherein the projectionassociated with said one locking means comprises an annular resilientflange extending at least partially radially relative to said shaft, andsaid one locking means also including an annular groove adapted toreceive therein said resilient annular flange.

8. The combination according to claim 5, wherein said first and secondlocking means include first and second recesses, respectively, and saidprojections each being resilient and disposed for coaction with arespective recess permitting said roller and said retaining member to beaxially secured relative to said shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,146,045 8/1964 Kaufi'rnan31-31l X 3,389,497 6/ 1968 Cremer 46221 3,221,439 12/1965 Schaper 46221X 3,383,148 5/1968 Dicken, Jr. 312311 JAMES T. MCCALL, Primary ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R. 312-311, 330

